Richard Mann provides a definitive guide to the four runners in the 2021 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday.
Coral-Eclipse (Group 1)
- When: 3.35pm, Saturday July 3
- Where: Sandown Park, Esher
- TV: ITV1 & Racing TV (Sky channel 426)
- Odds: Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
- Racecard & FREE video form
Addeybb
Age: 7 | Weight: 9-7 | Jockey: TBC | Trainer: William Haggas | OR: 125
Addeybb has seen and done just about everything – from winning Lincolns to plundering big prizes around the world – and at the grand old age of seven, he remains a top-class performer capable of landing the very best races. That was again in evidence when he scythed through the Ascot mud to beat Skalleti in last year's Champion Stakes and he backed that up by landing his third Australian Group One in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick in April. The prospect of cut in the ground at Sandown on Saturday will have connections jumping for joy and his prominent style of racing is ideally suited to this track.
Mishriff
Age: 4 | Weight: 9-7 | Jockey: David Egan | Trainer: John and Thady Gosden | OR: 122
Monster performance from Mishriff given his draw and having to come from that far back. This horse has the world at his feet. #Meydan
— Richard Mann (@Richard_Mann11) March 27, 2021
In a race of potential superstars, Mishriff could well prove to be pick of the bunch having enhanced his already glowing reputation in the Middle East this spring with a pair of top-flight victories that demonstrated both his class and versatility. Dominant when running away with last season's French Derby at Chantilly, he was equally impressive when defying his inexperience on dirt to beat Bob Baffert's latest superstar, Charlatan, in the Saudi Cup. Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile hero Knicks Go was put in his place back in fourth. It was a monster performance – beating the Americans at their own game on dirt – but one that was always likely to leave its mark. Still, team Gosden pressed on and only a month later Mishriff was at it again, stepping up three furlongs in distance to tough it out in the Sheema Classic, seeing off Chrono Genesis and Loves Only You in determined fashion having been forced to mount his challenge from a wide track position turning for home. His two main victims on that occasion have both won Grade Ones in the Far East since, giving the form a healthy look, and with his three-month break following those exploits well-deserved, it will surely take a performance of equine greatness to stop him in his tracks at Sandown. The crowning of a new king awaits.
El Drama
Age: 3 | Weight: 8-11 | Jockey: Andrea Atzeni | Trainer: Roger Varian | OR: 105
The lowest-rated horse on official figures and one with a significant amount to find on all known form. Having looked a smart prospect when beating Maximal in the Dee Stakes, the son of Lope De Vega found the step up to the top table too hot to handle when well beaten in the French Derby. He was unable to make use of a good early pitch at Chantilly and faded badly late on. One of only two three-year-olds in this race, he retains plenty of potential and given the talent trainer Roger Varian has at his disposal this summer, it should be viewed as a positive that he is keen to have another crack at Group One level with a horse who, like a few in here, likes to get his toe in. While it is very hard to see him winning, we probably haven't seen the best of El Drama just yet and he might just be capable of ruffling a few feathers amongst the market principals.
St Mark's Basilica
Age: 3 | Weight: 8-11 | Jockey: TBC | Trainer: Aidan O'Brien | OR: 120
This famous race so often produces a clash of the generations: Derby winner versus established older horse who must concede 10lb to his younger rival. This time around there is no Epsom form to consider – not from this season anyway – but we do have a Derby winner vying for a favouritism, and a brilliant one, too, in St Mark's Basilica. In many respects, 2021 has so far been a disappointing one for team Ballydoyle, with a seemingly exciting crop of three-year-old colts continually failing to impact the early-season Classics. Most significantly, Bolshoi Ballet was a major flop in the Epsom showpiece. Perhaps this year's colts just aren't up to scratch, but one horse who has stood tall is this silky-smooth son of Siyouni. Always well touted, he was good enough to see off more battle-hardened rivals in last year's Dewhurst, and kicked off his three-year-old career with a commanding victory in the French 2000 Guineas before adding the French Derby in equally impressive fashion a few weeks later. Rarely does a Flat season pass without a new O'Brien champion arriving on the scene and given Saturday will only be the eighth start of St Mark's Basilica's career, there is the potential for him to find even greater levels of improvement. The prospect of him locking horns with Mishriff in the Sandown straight is quite something.
Who will win the Coral-Eclipse?
What this race lacks in numbers is arguably compensated for in quality.
In St Mark's Basilica, Aidan O'Brien saddles a dual Classic winner who, along with Poetic Flare, has proven himself the best of the three-year-old generation with two dazzling displays in France. He is a top-class colt who is sure to have been primed for the big day by the master of Ballydoyle.
Now he must take on the best of the older generation, and in MISHRIFF, the task doesn't come any tougher. Tough is a good place to start when describing John and Thady Gosden's son of Make Believe, though he didn't really need to show that trait when, like St Mark's Basilica, he added the French Derby to his CV last season.
This time around he has needed the class he oozed in that Chantilly cruise and a good measure of steel, too, in hard-fought wins in the Saudi Cup and the Sheema Classic. Not many can beat the Americans at their own game, not least when that game is dirt and Bob Baffert is the opponent, but Mishriff managed it and then backed it up by beating a pair of top-class performers from the Far East at Meydan.
Versatile, hardy, and very, very good, there are seemingly few chinks in the armour of Mishriff and with the Gosdens sure to have their charge ready to roll after a well-deserved break since Dubai, this brilliant four-year-old can take down St Mark's Basilica in much the same way the mighty Sea The Stars saw off the best of Ballydoyle in this very race back in 2009. If we see half as good a finish, we are in for a treat.
Of the rest, significant rain would play to the strengths of Addeybb, while El Drama is much better than his recent French flop and should show his true colours with a better run this time.
